Ties in the wild: ‘Mausi’ tigress protects, trains cubs of her dead sister

In a rare show of maternal sentiments among wild animals, a tigress in a Madhya Pradesh national park has not only been taking care of three cubs of her dead sister along with four of her own, but also giving them precedence in hunting training.

The 'mausi' (maternal aunt) tigress – named T28 – has become a centre of attraction at the Sanjay Dubri National Park and Tiger Reserve in Sidhi district for the way she has been taking care of her sister’s cubs. It was not an easy journey for the four cubs born to tigress T18.

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One of them fell prey to an adult tiger right after the death of their mother in a train accident. However, the maternal aunt of the three surviving cubs - T28 - took it upon herself to see that not only the little ones survived, but had proper training to get on in the fiercely competitive jungle world.

“We received information that a big cat was lying near railway tracks in the reserve's core area of Dubri range on March 16 this year.

A forest department team reached the spot and found it was tigress T18,” Sanjay Dubri Tiger Reserve's Field Director YP Singh told PTI. After being rescued, the seriously injured T18 was released from a cage the next day following treatment, but it was hard for the big cat to move and finally she died a few hours later, he said. Singh said, “After this, our major concern was the safety of T18's four cubs, who were nine-month-old at that time.

Elephant-mounted patrolling teams were pressed for their monitoring and prey was given to them but unfortunately an adult tiger killed one of these four cubs.” This incident further increased concern about the safety of the remaining cubs, the officer said.

“The area where these cubs of T18 were staying then became the domain of an adult tiger named T26,” the reserve's field director said. Singh said T18 was born in the first litter to tigress T11, popularly known as Kamli because of the lotus sign on her head along with T16 (a male big cat) and T17 (a tigress).

Kamli, in another litter, gave birth to two tigresses T28 and T29. The reserve's field director said T18 was first spotted with her four cubs in June last year, while her sister T17 gave birth to a litter of three cubs around October 2021. Similarly, their other siblings, T28 and T29, also gave birth to three cubs each in October last year and January this year, respectively, he said.

So, Kamli's clan - four tigresses, including T18 - gave birth to 13 cubs during a period of eight months, he said. Singh said after the death of T18 and subsequent killing of one of her four cubs by an adult tiger, the remaining three cubs were initially seen with tigress T17 and her little ones, giving relief to the reserve management which was constantly monitoring their movement.

“But this relief was short-lived as these cubs separated the next day from T17. After 10 days of tracking, these orphaned cubs of T18 were seen with their another mausi (mother’s sister) - T28 - also born to Kamli,” he said.

The tiger reserve's field director said regular monitoring showed since the past five months, the cubs of T18 have mixed up well with the young ones of their mausi – T28 - and now all of them live like a family.

Surprisingly, the tigress T28 not only took care of these three orphans of her sister but also taught them hunting before her own cubs, he said. “Now, these cubs of T18 are able to hunt independently after being trained by T28 and they share prey with other siblings,” Singh added.

The national park was declared a tiger reserve in 2006 and it comprises the Sanjay National Park and the Sanjay Dubri Sanctuary.

The park is spread over an area of 812 square km as core and 861 square km as buffer, totalling 1674.551 square km, he said.

Singh said at present, the Sanjay Dubri Tiger Reserve has 19 cubs (aged less than one year), six sub-adults (between one to two years) and 17 adults (more than two years) - eight males and nine females.

This number was six in the All-India Tiger Estimation Report 2018, he said. Singh said the park is part of a mega landscape consisting of the Palamu Tiger Reserve (Jharkhand), Semarsot and Pingla sanctuaries, the Guru Ghasidas National Park (all in Chhattisgarh) and the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve (MP).

Madhya Pradesh had regained the coveted tag of being the 'tiger state' of the country in the 2018 census. As per the All-India Tiger Estimation Report 2018, the state was home to 526 tigers, the highest for any state in the country.

There are half a dozen tiger reserves in Madhya Pradesh - Kanha, Bandhavgarh, Pench, Satpura, Panna and Sanjay Dubri. According to the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) website, 27 tiger deaths have taken place this year so far (till July-end) in the state.